We Own the Sky
by kuushina
Summary: The war has ended, but Sasuke hasn't returned. Told from the perspective of Haruno Sakura. Not a SasuSaku story. Occasionally told from Naruto's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

Sunlight slowly began to spread across the roofs of Konoha. I watched from Tsunade-sama's window, holding her daily cup of green tea, the aroma filling her office. My limbs felt as though they needed to be stretched; my body felt tired, worn out. It's been seven months since the Fourth Great Shinobi War ended, and the people around us, our environment, our bonds, began to become stronger. My lips cracked a smile at the memory of Naruto's strength, and the people that came to rely on him and believe in him. Finally, everyone had acknowledged Naruto.

Looks like you got your wish, huh, Naruto? I thought to myself.

A seemingly dark cloud filled my head, however. After the war ended, Sasuke-kun did not come home. No one knew where he was. Ever since he left the very first time, I was always uneasy. I didn't know, much less understand, how to convey our feelings even further. We wanted him to come home, all of us.

My mind flooded with the night that he left, the night that I…

"Sakura, you've been standing there for ten minutes now," I hear Tsunade-sama's voice.

"Oh, sorry!" I frantically walked over to her, with her cup in hand.

"You shouldn't be worried about anything anymore, Sakura. The war is over," Tsunade-sama reassured me, gently. She was always the kind of person who was strict in training, but when it came to sensitive issues, she was almost like an older sister, to me. I respected her greatly.

"Or are you still pondering the whereabouts of Sasuke?"

My eyes widened as I averted my gaze to hers.

"What are you talking about, Tsunade-sama? All that is in the past! Sasuke-kun isn't on my mind, that's silly!" I said as I waved my hand back and forth, trying my best to smile.

"You may be good at deceiving certain people, but you are my disciple. When it comes to me, you are horrible at lying," she said coolly.

I sighed, closing my eyes. Tsunade-sama was right; I tended to keep these thoughts to myself because I figured I was, really, the only one who was still thinking about it, or rather, about _him_. Naruto, I was sure, still thought about him from time to time, but I highly doubted that he wanted him to come home. If Naruto gave any hints as to wanting Sasuke-kun to come home, I wasn't reading them properly.

"Call Naruto here, I have a mission to assign to you two, and Shikamaru," she said as she shuffled through her papers.

"Yes, ma'am!" I walked out of her room, down the hallways, heading towards the direction of Naruto's apartment. I took note of the architecture of the Hokage tower, the pillars with words written on them, ancient characters engraved into the wood, the concrete. This place served as a haven for me; a place I could go to without feeling pressured about anything.

Photos of the previous Hokage hung on the walls, with Tsunade-sama coming in at the end of the row. I smirked, as I noticed there was a sixth frame, next to Tsunade-sama's face.

"_Becoming Hokage is my dream_!"

I thought back to the Ninja Academy days, when I first despised Naruto for getting in my way of hanging around Sasuke-kun. We were all so naïve, back then. We were children. We were innocent; we had no regard for things being taken away from us. We took things for granted.

We lost a teammate to darkness.

* * *

Before I knew it, I was standing right in front of Naruto's door. His door was always rusty, the sign of old age. I idly wondered how long that apartment had existed. Probably older than both of us.

"Naruto, open up! Tsunade-sama has a mission she wants to assign to us, we gotta go!" I said through his door. No reply came, though.

"Naruto! Did you hear me? Don't tell me you're still _sleeping_," I half-jokingly said. It _was_ only about eight-thirty in the morning. Knowing Naruto, he was probably still snoring away.

I sighed, and turned the knob. It was unlocked. My brow furrowed – why was it unlocked?

Although the sun had already rose, Naruto's apartment was dark. The only curtains he kept open were the ones in his bedroom. I started to feel uneasy – normally, even from just walking in, I could hear Naruto snoring in his bedroom. I took small, quiet steps.

"Naruto?"

No answer.

When I stepped into his room, I felt relief. His clothes were all over the floor, his bed unmade, empty ramen cups scattered. His room smelt of him, mixed with dirty gym socks. At that, I groaned.

"Naruto, you can't just ignore people when they come to your apartment to call you for a goddamn mission, it's rude!" I said as I picked up his clothes off the floor. I moved them to the bed, and continued picking up ramen cups, putting them in a corner, so I could clean them up later. I could do nothing about the scent, however. I began walking towards the closet outside his room, where I was hoping to find a mop and a bucket.

My foot cracked something on the floor, something made of glass. I did not feel the prick in my foot, but I could tell it was a photo frame.

I averted my eyes to my feet, and ho and behold! The glass frame really was cracked. _Shit_, I thought.

_Where did this come from?_ I thought.

With my fingers, I picked it up off the floor, and my heart sank into my stomach. I felt such a hollow sadness in my chest, that Naruto kept this. It made the nerves connected to my heart, ache. What made me feel lonelier was the fact that it was on his floor, hidden underneath his layer of clothes. My fingers touched the surface of the cracked glass, the hole in my chest becoming bigger.

_Why would this be on the floor_? I asked myself.

I stared at the photo of the red-haired woman, and the man known as the Fourth Hokage, with their child being held between them. My heart began to ache even more.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey guys! So, before, I said that this story might have SasuSaku moments - I didn't mean to confuse you guys! I meant that maybe perhaps Sakura would have flashbacks of Sasuke, but I didn't mean that there would present SasuSaku moments! This is purely a NaruSaku story! Sorry for the confusion, hope you guys like it!**_

* * *

"Sakura-chan?"

My hands laid the broken frame on the nightstand next to Naruto's bed. I sighed. How was I supposed to tell him that I had broken a frame with his parents' faces on it? Wasn't that bad luck? I turned towards his bedroom door, expecting him to look surprised at the fact that his bedroom floor was clean, but the Naruto that stood in front of me didn't look even slightly bothered by it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We have to go meet Tsunade-sama… for a mission," I said slowly.

"Oh, okay. Let me just get dressed," his eyes didn't even see me. It was as though he only heard my voice, and didn't bother to see me in front of him.

As though I was an apparition.

"Naruto, is everything all right?"

"Huh? Yeah, it's just really early in the morning."

Well, that much I was right about. It was absolutely way too early for Naruto to even be awake… so was why he awake in the first place? My eyes watched his slowly moving body, as he crossed the room to pick up his forehead protector and a pair of fresh clothes, right from clothesbasket. He seemed to be dawdling, as though he wanted to stay home all day.

"Do you not want to go on this mission?" I asked softly. He paused, the room filled with resounding silence, that I couldn't even hear my own breathing. Perhaps I was holding my breath, for his answer.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, what did you say about a mission?"

My heart sank. In the many years that I've worked with Naruto and been his teammate, he had never been impassive about a mission. Particularly when I was the one that showed up at his apartment to inform him of this. That was only natural, though – both Naruto and I were the ones who knew each other's strengths and weaknesses the best. Of course, there would always be the one who we were waiting to return, but in the grand scheme of things, Naruto and I…

"Sakura-chan?"

"Ah, yeah! Tsunade-sama asked for both of us to come to her office, she has a mission to assign to us."

"Just the two of us?" he looked baffled.

"Ah, no, Shikamaru will be there as well," I said. He simply nodded and left the room to change his clothes. He seemed so distant, ever since the war ended. He even so far as left a photo of his parents on his floor. His father, although was under the Edo Tensei, seemed to work well with his son; knowing each other's strengths and limitations. Was he upset that his father couldn't stay? No, that wasn't it. Naruto is strong, and understands the repercussions of jutsu like Edo Tensei.

Knowing Naruto, he was probably more upset that he couldn't bring _him_ home.

My whole body seemed to go limp at that thought. Of course, Naruto wasn't the only one who was upset that he couldn't bring Sasuke-kun back. The whole village was; the whole shinobi world was regretful, that they couldn't convince him to come home. I was upset, but different in the way that everyone else was. Naruto and I could only understand the unsettlement we had in each other – that alone made it more difficult. I knew Naruto's pain; he knew mine.

But still, for Naruto to be so shaken up over Sasuke-kun not coming back? It was a trivial thing, to some, but to me, there was something more to it. I looked around Naruto's room for the photo of our Team 7, and found it sitting on the same nightstand I placed the photo of his parents. It wasn't dusty; he cleaned the frame everyday. There were no tears or rips in the photo – he had never taken it out since the day he received the photo.

Naruto has grown so much.

"Okay, let's go, Sakura-chan," he said as he strolled into the room, tightening his forehead protector.

"You are to find this shinobi from Kirigakure, who is posing as a Kumogakure shinobi. Although the war has ended, we cannot be lenient with the amount of spies still going around. Although they did not agree with Madara's ideals, they might've had their own, and just used the Shinobi Alliance as a harbinger for them to execute their own plans."

"But why would they want to start trouble? Do we know their motive?" I asked.

"It seems that from their previous wanderings, they've been looking for a specific person. Of course, they haven't succeeded, since they're changing disguise," Shikamaru said as he closed his eyes.

"Changing disguise? They are changing their appearances?"

"No, they're not that high-level of a shinobi. Even if they did change appearances, judging from the drawings we received of them, they couldn't change appearances very well, using their ninjutsu. Basically, it means that they use genjutsu to make people think they are someone else. What a troublesome person."

I saw Naruto from the corner of my eye. He seemed… almost disinterested. I felt the blood through my veins pump more, out of worry.

"Your mission starts tomorrow. Be sure to get loads of rest," Tsunade-sama said.

"Isn't this a mission for newly-appointed Chuunins?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto! Don't be rude; Tsunade-sama decided that this would be our mission. You can't just ask if this mission is meant for –"

Naruto's blue eyes turned to me, and in them, I could see the irritation at me. I stared at him back, except that I didn't understand why he was looking at me in such a way. What did I do? Did something happen? I knew this was hardly the place to ask Naruto what was wrong, but it bothered me. He had been like this ever since the war ended. If it had anything to do with Sasuke-kun…

"All right. I'll see you guys tomorrow by the gate, jaana," Naruto said as he waved his hand, in the nonchalant way that he did.

He was very different.

"Naruto! Naruto, wait up!" I yelled after him outside of the Hokage tower. He halted, but didn't turn around. His broad shoulders were stiff, his stance almost defensive. I could see the secret he was hiding from me. He exuded sadness, anger – regret. I wanted to touch him. My fingers burned, as instinct took over.

"If you are regretting that you couldn't bring Sasuke-kun back, there was nothing that could be done. He didn't want to come home," I said softly.

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?" I could hear the fake smile in his voice.

"You haven't been communicating with any of us about how you felt fighting alongside him. No one knows how much you're suffering, Naruto. They all think that you're happy with the outcome of the war, and that you're just having one of those bad days." I paused, waiting for him to answer.

He slowly turned around to look at me, his eyes wide.

"But I know you. I know you so well, Naruto. I understand, I know, that you are absolutely shattered that you couldn't bring Sasuke-kun home. I know. We couldn't bring him home, and I'm _sorry_." Tears began to form in my eyes. I hated seeing Naruto bottle up his feelings, because he didn't feel as though they were important enough to be communicated.

"Where did you get the idea that I was upset about Sasuke?" he said coolly. His eyes, though, his large blue eyes, leaked with sorrow and hollowness.

"Whenever anyone brings him up, you flinch. Whenever anyone brings up a missing-nin that has nothing to do with him, you flinch. You clean the frame of our Team 7 everyday. You even left the photo of your parents underneath all your pile of clothes."

"That doesn't mean I regret not being able to take him home, Sakura-chan," he said slowly, his eyes moving to his feet.

"Don't lie to me, Naruto. We're not kids anymore. Apart from you, I was the only person who wanted to bring him home. You can't keep hiding –"

Naruto's arms engulfed me, his face buried in my pink hair. My field of view was filled with his broad shoulders. I could breathe in a little through my nose, and his scent would fill my body. I dared not to breathe. My heart was pounding, my face turning red.

"Naruto…?" I whispered.

He didn't answer. He continued to hold me, and I could hear him breathing me in. He didn't sound content. His arms were wrapped so tightly around me, that I felt safe. My heart started to calm from the shock, and turned into a slow, steady beat instead. The butterflies in my stomach started to move around slowly, and all I wanted was for us to stay this way.

The arms that I kept by my side slowly started to lift, around Naruto's waist. I placed my hands there, and leaned my forehead against his shoulder in front of me. He was so warm; it made me happy.

"Aren't people going to see us?" I said half-jokingly.

"I don't care," he whispered.

I tightened my arms around his waist, holding him firm and close to me. I whispered his name, and I felt him nod. A hollow sadness began to fill the hole in my chest, as I held this blond-haired boy. After he became a genin, all he wanted was to fight his teammate, because they saw each other as equals.

That teammate left us both, for us to chase after him.

I made Naruto promise that he'd bring back Sasuke-kun, and that promise was what caused Naruto to feel so much pain. He wasn't going to bring back Sasuke-kun just for his sake, but for mine as well.

At this point, however, I did not care about Sasuke-kun. I didn't care for the amount of hurt he put us through.

All I wanted was for Naruto to be safe here, in my arms.

I felt his body began to shake silently, as he buried his face further into my hair. I could not hear it, but I felt the sobs in his chest. I whispered his name over and over again; to remind him I was right here. To remind him it was okay to cry. His arms were at my waist now, giving me more space to move. Slowly, I moved my hands up to the back of his neck.

I touched him just slightly, but suddenly, the sobbing ceased.

The butterflies in my stomach were louder than ever, my heartbeat slower, but faster, more than I have ever felt before. He moved his head off me, just enough for me to place both my hands on either side of his face.

The expression he wore told me he was bewildered. His face was red, and seeing his face made _my_ face go red.

He was so close. Our noses were almost touching. I could hear his ragged breathing, his gulping. I could hear my own heartbeat. I disregarded any sound that was not this. I couldn't see anyone else; only Naruto, in front of my face, so close to me. His arms around my tightened, and he pulled me closer, that it was almost impossible that we were still not touching.

I started to become aware of my breathing, and wanted to laugh at myself. I smiled, instead.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"I never realized how blue your eyes were," I said, almost biting my tongue for being so cheesy.

He smiled a wide smile, his eyes becoming warm. He pressed his forehead against mine, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. I didn't know how long we'd been standing here, in the middle of town, but it felt as though we were there for years. I knew that there was probably someone who was watching us, or at least someone who knew us both, and was giggling to themselves. I did not mind, however. I moved my lips closer to Naruto's, even as my breathing hitched.

"Sakura-chan, you're so lovely," he whispered, before he pressed his lips softly to mine. My body tingled, and my lips felt so feathery. His eyes were closed as he lightly kissed me, and I smiled a bit.

My own eyes fluttered, and I pressed my lips harder to his. Our breaths were heavy, and his arms stayed on my waist, on my back, but never in places he knew he could not yet touch.

My heart hurt; it felt as though it was overflowing with happiness. Although in the beginning, I could not stand Naruto, I have come to learn that he is someone who anyone can rely on. He was responsible, if I had to say so. He wasn't as responsible as other shinobi in our village, but for himself, he knew what he was doing. I felt at peace, knowing that I was kissing a boy, who had loved me for so long, and had of course, grown up. I pressed myself closer to him, breathing him in. He whispered my name against my lips, as he smiled. His hands had moved up to my neck, as he held me in place and kissed my face. I had never been in such bliss.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Naruto's POV.**_

_**Sorry if this chapter is really bad! I really wanted to update it as soon as I could but this might not be the best. Of course, there are more to come!**_

* * *

It was still dark outside, but I was awake, getting my things together before I was supposed to meet Shikamaru and Sakura-chan down by the entrance. My eyes felt watery, and I had to keep rubbing them, to see. My mouth opened wide, and I let out a horrendous noise. It was way too early to be awake.

I thought of Sakura-chan, and her bright red cheeks as she looked at me. She was so cute. But, what she was telling me made me uneasy. She doesn't know it, but the reason I started to cry, was because she had started to cry. It wasn't because I bottled up my feelings, but rather, it was because hers spilled over.

"We couldn't bring him home, and I'm _sorry_," she said. As though it was her fault we couldn't bring him home. I sighed, my right hand rubbing the back of my neck.

The economy was boosting itself back up since the war ended; that meant that people were living their lives happily. They had more than enough. They did not need to live in famine. The shinobi world was happy, as well as the commoners' world. There was nothing to be upset about.

Apart from the obvious.

I clucked my tongue, and slowly turned around to look at the photo in the frame. As always, Sasuke and I stared at each other, with angry eyes. I had never felt so much resentment towards someone as much as I did towards Sasuke. He was a talented shinobi, one who, like me, lost everything. He was lonely. But everyone acknowledged him, because of his clan. He was an elite. I wanted to be better than him, so people would notice me.

If someone had told me that Sasuke was going to vanish, I would have stopped him myself at the gate. Of course, there was no way I could've known he was leaving.

He didn't consider me as someone close. But, for the life of me, he was my best friend.

* * *

"Naruto!" Shikamaru waved from the gates of Konoha, as he yawned. I raised my hand in reply to him, before dawdling over.

"Where's Sakura-chan?"

"Taking a few final orders from Tsunade-sama," he said lazily.

I nodded, directing my attention to the sky. Streaks of pink and orange began to fill the sky, signifying the break of dawn. A soft gust of wind blew through my hair. It was cool. It reminded me of summer mornings, even though we were almost hitting winter. I inhaled the autumn air, which smelled like dead leaves, like the Earth, like fire. It made me smile.

"Hey... about this mission," Shikamaru said.

I cocked my head at him curiously.

"You weren't listening yesterday. So I'm gonna tell you now."

"Okay, shoot. It's a simple mission to catch that rebel, right?"

Shikamaru stared at me, his eyes hesitant.

"If we capture this one, we may know the whereabouts of Sasuke."

My eyes widened. The blood in my veins seemed to stop reaching my heart for a fifth of a second, and I felt a tight tug in my chest.

"What?"

"This... rebel. He's working closely with that water-shifter from the Hozuki clan of the Water Country. Kind of like his disciple. Rumor has it that he's been running errands for the Hozuki kid, to help Sasuke."

"Where are you getting all this information?"

"After you and Sakura left, Tsunade-sama gave me the details. I haven't told Sakura yet, though."

I swallowed, my face burning. It was only then that I remembered what had happened after we left Granny Tsunade's office. I let out a nervous laugh. My heart felt as though it was floating.

"Yeah, sorry, our bad. But, does Sakura-chan know?"

Shikamaru's eyes seemed to pierce through me. His teeth gritted, he took a step towards me.

"No matter what, Sakura cannot know. I know that you love her and all, but we can't -"

"_What?_ What makes you think I love her? Just because I'm always saying her name endearingly - that could mean I really respect her, you know!" I blurted.

"First of all, you loving Sakura is a totally different topic that we're not even going to begin discussing right now. You have to keep this from her. If you don't -"

"She'll go after him." I answered bluntly.

Shikamaru simply nodded, the lines on his face full of dismay. He didn't like this mission. He definitely didn't like Sasuke, either. He didn't like that Sakura would go after Sasuke, after all the hard work we've all done to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else.

"Shikamaru! Naruto! Let's get going!" Sakura shouted out, Granny Tsunade behind her. The look in Granny Tsunade's eyes worried me. She didn't look confident, which was rare, since she was sending the three of us on a mission. One of the people was someone who was fit to be the Hokage's right-hand man. The other was her very own disciple. And the other, was the disciple of her best friend.

What did she have to worry about?

Granny Tsunade approached me, as Sakura-chan and Shikamaru went over the map, deciding which route was the fastest to our location. She was tenser than I remembered her ever being. Her voice was annoyed, even slightly patronizing.

"Did Shikamaru tell you the objective of this mission?"

"Yeah. Loud and clear."

"Be sure to keep it from Sakura, okay?"

I stared at her.

"Is it so important to keep the knowledge of her teammate away from her?"

"Naruto, if she goes after Sasuke, she will _die_. She is my disciple and I have no doubt that she can defend herself, but we have intel telling us that Sasuke has changed. She will die, you hear me?" Tsunade said in a haste. I nodded.

Shikamaru called me over, signaling it was time to head out. I nodded, tightening my forehead protector from the back. Sakura-chan saluted Granny Tsunade, and waited for her to walk away before joining us.

We started to walk away from the gates, as they closed behind us, Shikamaru in the front, Sakura-chan and I in the back. Sakura-chan held the map in her hands, her eyebrows scrunched together. She was in deep concentration. Probably figuring out how long it would take us to get there.

"You have all the scrolls, Shikamaru?" she asked.

He merely made a sound, and continued walking.

I stared at her, my mind full of wonder. Would she really chase after Sasuke, after coming so far? After becoming strong, would she really chase after him the same way that Granny Tsunade and Shikamaru said she would? While it was true that Sakura-chan might go after Sasuke, I didn't think of it as the same way that she would when we were thirteen.

Sakura-chan was different now.

"Naruto? Is there something the matter?"

She noticed I had been staring at her.

I simply grinned, and shook my head. I had to hide what I knew from her. It was not feasible if I allowed my emotions to poke through. I knew Sakura-chan was strong, everyone knew that.

But even as shinobi, we lose control of our emotions.

I felt soft, warm fingers entangle themselves in my hand. She gave it a squeeze. I turned my head towards her, and she simply smiled at me, her green eyes shimmying under the sunlight. My heart warmed, and my resolve became concrete.

I had to keep everything a secret, no matter what.


End file.
